KLJ-3 radar is indeed the result of the introduction of foreign technology, but it is not from Russia, but Israel.

In 1986, J-10 fighter program started. When the Chinese Air Force dispatched pilots go to France to fly Mirage 2000 for evaluation, the Chinese pilots were impressed with Mirage-2000′s avionics and advanced cockpit display system. After the test in France, Pilot Ge Wenyong bluntly said that if counterpart Mirage 2000 pilots do not make mistakes, PLA Air Force J-7 and J-8 fighters have no chance of winning. But Chinese electronics industry was weak at 1980s, and it is difficult to meet the development requirements of the new combat aircraft. In this case, the Heads of Chinese military has determined to actively introduce advanced foreign technology, and push the the development of Chinese avionics industry.

In later 1980s, China began aviation technical cooperation with Israel, including the a full set of LAVI fighter avionics systems. LAVI’s original EL/M-2035 multifunction pulse Doppler fire control radar, which uses a phase parameters transmitter and multi-channel receiver, programmable signal processing system, look-down capacity as 46 km detection range. Its air-to-air modes include RWS (range-while-search), TWS (Track-While-Scan), dogfight, single target tracking; the air-to-ground modes include ranging, real beam mapping and Doppler beam sharpening. The radar has weights of 138 kg. However when the LAVI project ended, the development of EL/M-2035 was also cancelled.

Later, Israel improved EL/M-2035 improvements into EL/M-2032, which was displayed for the first time at the 1987 Paris Air Show. EL/M-2032 in aerial target designation mode has the maximum search distance to reach 150 km; in the air-to-sea mode detection range over 300 km. There have been reports that the Israeli Air Force are not satisfied with F-16I fighter AN/APG-68V-9 radar’s performance and hoped to replace by EL/M-2032 radar, but the United States refused. This also reflects high- performance EL/M-2032, rising as a threat to the U.S. radar.

The introduction of the LAVI aviation electronic systems in China, was known as the 873 avionics integrated system based on 1553B data bus, which was officially launched in 1989, began to conduct test flights in 1993. Other sub-systems including airborne radar, inertial navigation, mission computer display management sub-systems, air data computers, plug-in management system. The 873 project has laid a solid foundation for J-10 to reach full operational capability and greatly raise the R&D Level of Chinese aviation industry.

December 29, 2012

MOSCOW, December 28 – The Sukhoi aircraft maker
delivered on Friday the first six Su-35S fighter jets to the Russian Air
Force, the company said.
The acceptance documents were signed by Defense Ministry officials at
the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft manufacturing plant in Russia’s Far
East.

The Sukhoi holding has fulfilled its obligations on the delivery of this type of
aircraft under the 2012 state defense order,” the company said in a
statement.
“The fighter jets will fly to their designated home base in the near future,” the statement said.
The Su-35, powered by two 117S engines with thrust vectoring,
combines high maneuverability and the capability to effectively engage
several air targets simultaneously using both guided and unguided
missiles and weapon systems.
The aircraft has been touted as "4++ generation using fifth-generation technology."
The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to buy about 90 Su-35s,
which will gradually become the core of Russia’s fighter jet fleet.

December 27, 2012

The Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) ends 2012 on an upbeat note, successfully launching the
underwater missile K-15 off the Visakhapatnam coast on Wednesday. The
missile darted 20 km into the air, after a gas generator ejected it from
the pontoon that lay submerged a few scores of metres in the Bay of
Bengal, and sped 650 km before splashing into the sea in its 11th flight
trial.

After one more flight, the two-stage missile
will be integrated with Arihant, India’s nuclear-powered submarine, and
test-fired from the ship. “It is a fantastic system. It is a very
powerful and accurate system,” said A.K. Chakrabarti, Programme
Director, K-15, and Director of the Hyderabad-based Defence Research and
Development Laboratory (DRDL), which designed and developed the
missile.

“India is the fifth country to have an
underwater launch system. The other countries are the U.S., Russia,
France and China,” he said.

December 23, 2012

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is
all set to become a “super rocket” soon, which would beef up India’s tactical
defence capability significantly. However, the test launches of the air variant
of the BrahMos II hyper-sonic missile, which were supposed to be completed by
2012, are experiencing delays. The realistic date for completion of these tests
is now believed to be 2015.
Sources in the Indian strategic establishment
said India has upgraded its BrahMos missiles by “wedding” these with Russia’s
advanced satellite navigation systems. The “marriage” of the BrahMos’s
navigation systems with Russia's Kh-555 and Kh-101 strategic long-range cruise
missiles has made BrahMos a “super rocket”. The word “rocket” here is used in
context of a weapon, not a space rocket.

The new avatar of BrahMos will have to
undergo tests and field trials before it becomes operational with the Indian
defence services. However, this would not take unduly long.
The improved version of BrahMos will be
endowed with a sub-strategic capability and would increase its tactical range
too. The new version would also be capable of carrying nuclear warheads and can
be launched from sea, land and air, like the old version. Its range of hitting
targets would now be over 180-300 miles (300-500 km).

Bangladesh
Army has started introduction of the
fourth-generation China-made MTB-2000 main
battle tanks procured through outright
purchase, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said
Thursday, December 13, 2012.

The VK-2500 is produced under a special federal program to develop the country’s defense sector and allied industries, he said, adding that it is built using exclusively Russian-manufactured components.

India wants the Iron Dome defense system. Defense News reports that India and Israel are cooperating on the development of weapons systems and that India’s main wish is to acquire the Iron Dome on a “buy and build” basis. This means India wants to acquire it and obtain a license from Israel for its manufacture.

An Indian source told Defense News that Israel had agreed to sell the system to India, but was hesitant about selling the technology needed to manufacture it. The U.S., which helped fund the Iron Dome’s development, has not said publicly whether it backs the deal.

According to the Indo-Asian News Service India is the largest customer of Israeli military equipment and Israel is the second-largest military partner of India after Russian with trade hovering around $9 billion.

December 14, 2012

Defense and
security company Saab has received an order from its German partner DBD
for the Surface-to-Surface Missile RBS15 Mk3.

The order value is SEK 615 million. Deliveries will take place during the period 2014 to 2016.

“This
is a historically large order and one of importance for us in our
long-term cooperation with DBD. It also creates new opportunities to
further develop the system in close cooperation with them. RBS15 Mk3 is
one of the most competitive products in this segment available on the
market today, and we continue to extend our market share,” said Tomas
Samuelsson, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Dynamics.

The
RBS15 Mk3, jointly produced and marketed by Saab and DBD, is a heavy
weight Surface-to-Surface Missile system with a range of more than 200
km and the added capability to combat land targets. The system has
previously been sold to Germany, Poland and Sweden.

JSC Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG (part of the United Aircraft
Corporation) began to supply upgraded MiG-29 fighters to the Indian Air
Force. The first three aircraft are delivered to India by An-124
transport aircraft. Modernization significantly extends the range of
tasks performed by MiG-29. The upgraded aircraft, along with increased
capability to fight air targets, acquire the ability to strike ground
(surface) moving and stationary targets with precision weapons by day
and night and in any weather conditions.

The maiden flight of the upgraded MiG-29UPG took place on February 4,
2011 at the airdrome of the Flight Research Institute named after M.M.
Gromov. The contract provides repair and modification of aircraft for
the purpose of extending the life up to 3,500 flight hours and service
life - up to 40 years. Developments of the RAC MiG can significantly
extend the life cycle of MiG-29, which was proven by the experience of
modernization in a number of countries.

December 12, 2012

MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's fourth prototype Sukhoi T-50 stealth fighter jet took to the skies for the first time on Wednesday in a 40 minute flight at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur factory in Siberia, Sukhoi said.

"The fourth prototype PAK-FA made its first flight today from the Gagarin factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur," Sukhoi said, referring to the aircraft by its project name, an acronym for future fifth-generation tactical fighter.

"The flight tested the aircraft's overall integrity and its main engines. The aircraft is making a good impression in all phases of the flying program," Sukhoi said.

The T-50, which will be the core of Russia's future fighter fleet, is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft featuring low-observable technology (stealth), super-maneuverability, supercruise capability (supersonic flight without use of afterburner), and an advanced avionics suite including an X-band active phased-array radar.

KINGS BAY, GA - DECEMBER 5: In this handout photo provided by the U.S.
Navy, Lt. j.g. Luke Leveque, assigned to the Gold crew of the ballistic
missile submarine USS Maryland (SSBN 738), pins the submarine officer
warfare device on his wife, Lt. j.g. Marquette Leveque, assigned to the
Gold crew of the ballistic missile submarine USS Wyoming (SSBN 742), at
Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay on December 5, 2012 in Kings Bay,
Georgia. Leveque is one of three Sailors to become the first female
unrestricted line officers to qualify in submarines.

Master Chief Rusty Staub, assigned to Submarine Group 9 Command,
congratulates Lt. j.g. Amber Cowan, assigned to the Blue crew of the
ballistic missile submarine USS Maine, for earning her submarine warfare
officer device Dec. 5 in Bangor, Wash. Cowan and Lt. j.g. Jennifer
Noonan, center, are two of three sailors to become the first female
unrestricted line officers to qualify in submarines.

The Navy’s first female submariners have earned their “dolphins.”
In
ceremonies on both coasts Wednesday, three female officers were pinned
with their submarine warfare insignia, the gold chest device that
confers their status as fully qualified submarine officers. After a
rigorous process that consumed a year of training followed by a year at
sea, their achievement signals that the silent service’s glass ceiling
has been shattered.

“Qualifying is a huge accomplishment for any submariner, and it feels
no different for me,” recipient Lt. j.g. Marquette Leveque said
Wednesday, according to a Navy newsstand story. “I am thrilled to
finally be a member of this elite community.”
The women are members of the cadre of 17 officers who began the sub force’s integration late last year.
Each of the three recipients has completed a strategic deterrent patrol in their year aboard ship, the Navy said.
Leveque,
who’s assigned to the ballistic-missile sub Wyoming (gold crew), had
her dolphins pinned at a ceremony in Kings Bay, Ga., by her husband, Lt.
j.g. Luke Leveque, himself a dolphin-wearer assigned to the ballistic
sub Maryland.

December 10, 2012

The first Indian Air Force C-17A (F-253/IAF-1) CB-8001 is bathed in the
bright white light of the flight ramp flood lites on December 7, 2012
just hours after emerging from the production hanger at Long Beach
Airport (LGB/KLGB)

December 9, 2012

The exercise that lasted for around 13 days, started on November 12,
2012. 45 soldiers of the Madras Regiment represented the Indian side,
with an equal number of MNDF Marine Corps soldiers. Named 'EKUVERIN-12'+, it focussed primarily on Counter-Terrorism/Insurgency & hostage rescue missions. The next round would be held in 2013, with Maldives playing host.

A delivery ceremony for the main part of the construction project of a
combat-readiness highway for the Ganbala radar station of the Air Force
of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was held on the morning of
November 21, 2012.

The Ganbala radar station is the highest man-controlled radar station in
the world with a height of 5,374 meters above the sea level. The
project of the highway, measuring 9 kilometers in length, was undertaken
by the Office of Traffic and Combat Readiness of the Tibet Autonomous
Region and the Military Transportation Department under the Logistics
Department of the PLA Air Force. After nearly 15 months of construction
since September of 2011, the completed combat-readiness highway,
featured with standard and scientific designs in protection and drainage
systems, costs over 29 million yuan (about 4.7 millions US $).

Prior to the construction, the highway was a winding sand road which, in
frequent rains and snows, witnessed landslides and debris flows from
time to time. Being only 9 kilometers in length, it used to take nearly
an hour of drive, but now, it takes less than 15 minutes.
According to leaders from the Military Transportation Department of the
Logistics Department of the PLA Air Force, all the radar stations on the
snowy plateau will have the class-4 highways built according to
national standards under the joint efforts of military and civilian
sectors.

Tibet connectivity With the fastest construction speed, most investment, and constantly
improved management system, Tibetan highway transportation has acquired
the most noteworthy construction achievements, bringing the rural
highway construction a historical leap to a better stage of best and
fastest development.Back to the old days, Tibetan highway construction was left behind due to its bad natural conditions and weak economic base.Since 2001, budget and investment for Tibet highway construction has
been expanded. With 53.3 billion yuan (about $8.56 billion) investment,
the Tibetan highway total distance has increased from 39760 kilometers
to 63108 kilometers by the end of 2011 at a growth rate of 58.7%.The amount of newly built and rebuilt highway in the past decade
exceeds the sum total of that in the previous 50 years after the Tibet
Peaceful Liberation. The airport expressway between Lhasa and Gunga
fulfils the zero breakthrough of Tibetan expressway. The opening of the
Galongla tunnel on Mutuo [Metok, north of the McMahon Line] highway ends
up the highway-less history of the last county in China.

Tibetan road network has made breaking
through development by increasing 265.4% of the previous 10,647 km
highway roads that can be graded at the level of political unit. So far,
60 counties in Tibet have had asphalt road.Meanwhile, the
passenger transport network also has a primary formation. Now there are
30,000 commercial cars in the whole Tibet Autonomous Region.
Accordingly, the passenger transport routes has risen from less than 100
to 353, covering 98.6% Tibetan counties and 61% Tibetan rural towns.The Risur Bridge Highway is 94 kilometers long. It is reported that
the project adopts the Level 4 technical standard of road construction,
with a design speed of 20 kilometers per hour, 6.5 meters width of
roadbed and 6 meters wide pavement. The whole project will be invested
with 399,925,519 yuan (about $64.3 million) and its overall construction
will last for 18 months.The newly built highways along with the old ones will bring together
great opportunities to Tibet’s development. Tibetans believe that their
life will become better and better owing to the highways that lead them
to wealth.

Scientific studies being conducted in Ganbala Heroic Radar Station

Yu Mengsun, 75, talks to air force pilots at the 5,374-meter Ganbala Radar Station on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Yu Mengsun has dedicated himself to improving the flight safety of air force pilots in a more than 50-year career. Wang Ru reports.
In 2010 and 2011, 75-year-old Yu Mengsun twice reached the 5,374-meter Ganbala Radar Station on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the world's highest manually operated radar station.
He did so to check the health condition of air force soldiers and conduct his research on the plateau's oxygen supply in heavy storms.
It is not the craziest thing Yu has done. In 1972, in order to test safety and get accurate data, Yu risked his life sitting in an ejector seat propelled by a rocket, into the sky.
As an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the founder of aviation biomedical engineering studies in China, Yu's research is vital to the development of the air force in China.
Thanks to his groundbreaking inventions and military applications research during his more than 50-year career, the safety of generations of military pilots has been enhanced.
"Science will finally smile on you, if you don't cheat her," Yu says.
He was born in Shanghai, in March 1936. At 15, he attended a military college, then studied at the Medical College of Nanjing University, before he was transferred to the Air Force Military Medical School.
After graduating in 1954, he joined an air force unit as an assistant surgeon. Since 1955, he has been working at the Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine.

When he was an intern at the institute, a teacher showed him an electric hearing device made by Siemens, one of only two in China, imported from Germany.Yu decided to make one. He collected machine parts and started to copy the product. During an experiment a fuse blew and the whole building experienced a blackout. His hearing device was confiscated, but when the institute's professors eventually discovered it functioned as well as the imported ones, he was recruited.

In the 1950s, due to the absence of aviation medical telemetry equipment, a real-time data transfer technique only possessed by the United States and the former Soviet Union at the time, the health condition of pilots could not be checked during flights.
In 1958, Yu developed the country's first aviation medical telemetry equipment. In 1972, putting his own safety aside, Yu tested out a rocket ejection seat. The data he collected from the risky experiment made him a pioneer in the field.

"His research still contributes to the safety of pilots in advanced jet fighters," says Luo Yongchang, director of the Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine.

In 1974, the medical team responsible for the health of leaders - including the former chairman Mao Zedong and premier Zhou Enlai - asked Yu to make health monitors for them.
After the country started its reform and opening-up process, China started to import precise medical instruments, most of which were very expensive.
"The ultimate goal of developing science and technology is to solve problems. Compared with Western countries, we lagged behind in some fields, but I knew we could solve our problems through hard work," Yu says.
He says his research shows that sleep problems for pilots caused 10.5 percent of accidents.
For decades, the only way to examine an air force pilot's sleep quality was through a doctor observing and questioning.

Yu found that when people sleep, their heartbeats, pulse and breathing convey how well they are sleeping and a computer can analyze this information.

Over the next 10 years, Yu and his research team made numerous experiments and eventually invented a sleeping monitor mattress - the most developed product of its kind - to analyze the sleep quality of its users. It is now widely used by the People's Liberation Army air force.
Since 2011, Yu and his colleagues have been to Qinghai-Tibet Plateau four times to research and collect health data on pilots who arrive at a high altitude place for the first time.
He has also developed a low-oxygen chamber with normal air pressure to help pilots adapt to the plateau environment.

Due to his inventions, the air force is now able to simultaneously measure 12 physiological and physical parameters of pilots within a 300 km flight radius.
"Thanks to Yu's painstaking efforts, the combat power of the air force on the plateau has been increased," says Xie Guanglin, political commissar of the Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine.